Highly Borated Dispersed Aluminum: Experimental Evaluation of Its Neutron-Shielding Properties

摘要

A prototype of highly borated (similar to 50 wt %) dispersed boron-aluminum is obtained by the method of mechanical alloying, compaction, and thermosynthesis of a mixture of amorphous boron and aluminum powders. A comparative assessment of the neutron-shielding properties of borated dispersed aluminum and VKM Al-B fibrous boron-aluminum under irradiation with neutrons with a flux of 1.4 x 10(6) n cm(-2) s(-1) with a fluence of 3 x 10(9) n/cm(2) is carried out. A morphological analysis of the samples of dispersed-borated powdered aluminum and fibrous-composite boron-aluminum is carried out using optical and scanning electron microscopy. It is found that the level of absorption of neutrons with the energy of 0.02-0.05 eV is up to 99.5-99.95% in both materials. It is concluded that highly borated dispersed boron-aluminum supplements the line of known boron-containing neutron-absorbing materials with the possibility of using it up to 500-700 degrees C.